The Closer: Sox It To Me

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. Haven't Native Americans Suffered Enough? At this point we've got to think that Boston's season is scripted. The Red Sox came through with more game-ending dramatics on Wednesday — and no, David Ortiz wasn't involved — in a 6-5 win over the shellshocked Indians. Mark Loretta doubled with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth off of Fausto Carmona; Boston's third last at-bat victory in five games. The Yankees also won, leaving the teams pretty much tied for first in the AL East.

• 2. Weird Day In HittingstreakLand. Chase Utley wasn't even supposed to get a fifth at-bat, but the Cardinals kindly obliged him in the ninth, and he came through with a single to extend his hitting streak to 34 games. The Phillies took a 16-8 win; you'll never guess who was pitching for St. Louis. Officially, though, Utley kept the streak alive in the eighth, as the official scorer changed his grounder from an error to an infield single.

• 3. San Diego Continues To Sink Like A Bag Of Anvils. The Astros won consecutive games for the first time in almost a month, behind Craig Biggio's two homers, beating the Padres 7-1. Roger Clemens, of course, can't understand why some of those runs aren't for him.

• 4. But I Don't Wanna Be A Pirate! The Twins' first losing homestand of the season came courtesy of Kip Wells, who at this time last week was toiling for Pittsburgh. In his first start for the Rangers, Wells went five-plus, giving up one run, in his team's 10-2 win.

• 5. All Your Mark Kotsay News, When It Happens. Mark Kotsay's eighth-inning single drove in the eventual winning run as the Athletics took a 3-2 win over the Angels, Oakland opening a 1 1/2-game lead in an AL West. It was the 15th one-run decision in 31 meetings between the teams over the past two seasons. But the fun is only beginning: They play seven of their final 10 games against each other, including a season-ending four-game set in Anaheim.